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Calgary Information

About Calgary

Calgary is the largest city in the province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in a region of foothills and high plains, approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies.

Calgary is the third largest civic municipality, by population, in Canada.

As of the 2007 civic census, Calgary's population was 1,019,942. The metropolitan population (CMA) was 1,079,310 in 2006, making Greater Calgary the fifth largest Census Metropolitan Area in the country.

Because it is located 300 kilometres (185 mi) due south of Edmonton, statisticians define the narrow populated region between these cities as the "Calgary-Edmonton Corridor". It is the largest Canadian metropolitan area between Toronto and Vancouver.

A resident of Calgary is known as a Calgarian.

Geography

Calgary is located at the transition zone between the Canadian Rockies foothills and the Canadian Prairies, and is relatively hilly as a result. Calgary's elevation is approximately 1,048 metres (3,440 ft) above sea level downtown, and 1,083 metres (3,553 ft) at the airport. The city proper covers a land area of 726.5 km² (280.5 sq mi) (as of 2006) and as such exceeds the land area of the City of Toronto.

There are two major rivers that run through the city. The Bow River is the largest and flows from the west to the south. The Elbow River flows northwards from the south until it converges with the Bow River near downtown.

Since the climate of the region is generally dry, dense vegetation occurs naturally only in the river valleys, on some north-facing slopes, and within Fish Creek Provincial Park.

The city is large in physical area, consisting of an inner city surrounded by various communities of decreasing density.

Unlike most cities with a sizable metropolitan area, most of Calgary's suburbs are incorporated into the city proper, with the notable exceptions of the city of Airdrie to the north, Cochrane to the northwest, Strathmore to the east, and the sprawling Springbank district to the west.

Though it is not technically within Calgary's metropolitan area, the town of Okotoks is only a short distance to the south and is considered a suburb as well.

The Calgary Economic Region includes slightly more area than the CMA and has a population of 1,146,900.

The city of Calgary proper is immediately surrounded by two municipal districts, Rocky View No. 44 to the north, west and east; and Foothills No. 31 to the south.

Climate

Calgary has a semi-arid, highland continental climate with long, dry, but highly variable, winters and short, moderately warm summers. The climate is greatly influenced by the city's elevation and close proximity to the Rocky Mountains.

Although Calgary's winters can be uncomfortably cold, warm, dry Chinook winds routinely blow into the city from the Pacific Ocean during the winter months, giving Calgarians a break from the cold. These winds have been known to raise the winter temperature by up to 15°C (27°F) in just a few hours, and may last several days.

The chinooks are such a common feature of Calgary's winters that only one month (January 1950) has failed to witness a thaw over more than 100 years of weather observations. More than one half of all winter days see the daily maximum rise above 0 °C (32 °F). Some winter days even approach +20 °C (68 °F) on occasion.

According to Environment Canada, the average temperature in Calgary ranges from a January daily average of −9 °C (15.8 °F) to a July daily average of +16 °C (60.8 °F).

History

The Canadian Pacific Railway reached the area in 1883 and a rail station was constructed, Calgary began to grow into an important commercial and agricultural centre.

The Canadian Pacific Railway headquarters are located in Calgary today.

Calgary was officially incorporated as a town in 1884 and elected its first mayor, George Murdoch. In 1894, it was incorporated as "The City of Calgary" in what was then the Northwest Territories.

The oil boom

Oil was first discovered in Alberta in 1902, but it did not become a significant industry in the province until 1947 when huge reserves of it were discovered.

Calgary quickly found itself at the centre of the ensuing oil boom. The city's economy grew when oil prices increased with the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973. The population increased by 272,000 in the eighteen years between 1971 (403,000) and 1989 (675,000) and another 345,000 in the next eighteen years (to 1,020,000 in 2007).

During these boom years, skyscrapers were constructed at a pace seen by few cities anywhere. The relatively low-rise downtown quickly became dense with tall buildings, a trend that continues to this day.

Calgary's economy was so closely tied to the oil industry that the city's boom peaked with the average annual price of oil in 1981.

The subsequent drop in oil prices and the introduction of the National Energy Program were cited by industry as reasons for a collapse in the oil industry and consequently the overall Calgary economy.

The NEP was cancelled in the mid-1980s by the Brian Mulroney federal government. Continued low oil prices, however, prevented a full recovery until the 1990s.

Recent history

With the energy sector employing a huge number of Calgarians, the fallout from the economic slump of the early 1980s was understandably significant. The unemployment rate soared.

By the end of the decade, however, the economy was in recovery. Calgary quickly realized that it could not afford to put so much emphasis on oil and gas, and the city has since become much more diverse, both economically and culturally.

The period during this recession marked Calgary's transition from a mid-sized and relatively nondescript prairie city into a major cosmopolitan and diverse centre.

This transition culminated in February of 1988, when the city hosted the XV Olympic Winter Games. The success of these games essentially put the city on the world stage.

Economy

Economic activity in Calgary is mostly centred on the petroleum industry; however, agriculture, tourism, and high-tech industries also contribute to the city's fast economic growth.

The economy in Calgary and Alberta is now booming, and the region of nearly 1.1 million people is the fastest growing in the country. While the oil and gas industry comprise most of the economy, the city has invested a great deal into other areas such as tourism and high-tech manufacturing. Over 3.1 million people now visit the city on an annual basis for its many festivals and attractions, especially the Calgary Stampede.

The nearby mountain resort towns of Banff, Lake Louise, and Canmore are also becoming increasingly popular with tourists, and are bringing people into Calgary as a result.

Other modern industries include light manufacturing, high-tech, film, transportation, and services.

Despite the importance of the oil industry to its economic success, Calgary was ranked the World's Cleanest City by Mercer Quality of Living in a survey published in 2007 by Forbes Magazine.

The downtown region of the city consists of five neighbourhoods: Eau Claire (including the Festival District), the Downtown West End, the Downtown Commercial Core, Chinatown, and the Downtown East Village (also part of the Rivers District).

The commercial core is itself divided into a number of districts including the Stephen Avenue Retail Core, the Entertainment District, the Arts District and the Government District.

Distinct from downtown and south of 9th Avenue is Calgary's densest neighbourhood, the Beltline. The area includes a number of communities such as Connaught, Victoria Crossing and a portion of the Rivers District. The Beltline is the focus of major planning and rejuvenation initiatives on the part of the municipal government to increase the density and liveliness of Calgary's centre.

Adjacent to, or directly radiating from the downtown are the first of the inner-city communities. These include Crescent Heights, Hounsfield Heights/Briar Hill, Hillhurst /Sunnyside (including Kensington BRZ), Bridgeland, Renfrew, Mount Royal, Mission, Ramsay and Inglewood and Albert Park/Radisson Heights directly to the east.

The inner city is, in turn, surrounded by relatively dense and established neighbourhoods such as Rosedale and Mount Pleasant to the north; Bowness, Parkdale and Glendale to the west; Park Hill, South Calgary (including Marda Loop), Bankview, Altadore and Killarney to the south; and Forest Lawn/International Avenue to the east.

Lying beyond these, and usually separated from one another by highways, are the suburban communities, often characterized as "Commuter Communities". The greatest amount of suburban expansion is happening in the city's deep south with major growth on the northwestern edge as well. In all, there are over 180 distinct neighbourhoods within the city limits.

Several of Calgary's neighborhoods were initially separate towns that were annexed by the city as it grew. These include Bowness, Montgomery, Forest Lawn, Midnapore, Rosedale and, most recently in 2007, Shepard.

Northwest Calgary is in general the region West of Center Street and North of the Bow River with the exception of several neighbourhoods South of the Bow River on the western edge of the city which are also considered to be part of the Northwest.

Northeast Calgary is the region east of Centre Street and North of Memorial Drive.

Southwest Calgary is, in general, the region South of the Bow River and West of Centre Street/Macleod Trail with the exception of several communities found South of the Bow River that are considered to be part of the Northwest.

Southeast Calgary is the area South of Downtown and Memorial Drive and East of Macleod Trail.

Education

The University of Calgary is Calgary's primary large degree-granting facility. 28,807 students were enrolled there in 2006.

Mount Royal University is one of the city's largest post-secondary institutions with 13,000 students, granting degrees in a number of fields.

With over 14,000 full-time students, SAIT Polytechnic provides polytechnic and apprentice education, granting certificates, diplomas and applied degrees. The Main Campus is in the North West Quadrant, just north of downtown.

Bow Valley College's main campus is located downtown and provides training in business, technology, and the liberal arts for about 10,000 students (the college has three campuses in Calgary and numerous in the region).

Recreation

Calgary is well-known as a destination for winter sports and ecotourism with a number of major mountain resorts near the city and metropolitan area.

In large part due to its proximity to the Rocky Mountains, Calgary has traditionally been a popular destination for winter sports.

In 1988, Calgary became the first Canadian city to host the Olympic Winter Games, and one of the fastest ice skating rinks in the world was built to accommodate these games.

The city has also been home to a number of major winter sporting facilities such as Canada Olympic Park (luge, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, downhill skiing, snowboarding, and some summer sports) and the Olympic Oval (speed skating and hockey). These facilities serve as the primary training venues for a number of competitive athletes.

In the summer, the Bow River is very popular among fly-fishermen.

Golfing is also an extremely popular activity for Calgarians and the region has a large number of courses.

The city also has a large number of urban parks including Fish Creek Provincial Park, Nose Hill Park, Bowness Park, Edworthy Park, the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, Confederation Park, and Prince's Island Park. Nose Hill Park is the largest municipal park in Canada. Connecting these parks and most of the city's neighbourhoods is one of the most extensive multi-use (walking, bike, rollerblading, etc) path systems in North America.

In addition to the many shopping areas in the city centre, there are a number of large suburban shopping complexes in Calgary. Among the largest are Chinook Centre and Southcentre Mall in the south, WestHills and Signal Hill in the southwest, South Trail Crossing and Deerfoot Meadows in the southeast, Market Mall in the northwest, and Sunridge Mall in the northeast.

Transportation

Calgary is considered a transportation hub for much of central and western Canada. Calgary International Airport (YYC), in the city's northeast, is the fourth largest in Canada by passenger movements and is also a major cargo hub.

Non-stop destinations include cities throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, Central America, and Asia (cargo services only). Calgary's presence on the Trans-Canada Highway and the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) mainline also make it an important hub for freight.

Calgary no longer has regular interurban passenger rail service but CPR still operates a passenger railway station for rail tour companies at Palliser Square.

Calgary maintains a major streets network and a freeway system. Much of the system is on a grid where roads are numbered with avenues running east-west and streets running north-south. Roads in predominantly residential areas as well as freeways and expressways do not generally conform to the grid and are usually not numbered as a result.

Public Transportation

Calgary Transit provides public transportation services throughout the city with buses and light rail. Calgary's rail system, known as the CTrain was one of the first such systems in North America and consists of three lines (two routes) on 42.1 kilometres (26.2 mi) of track (mostly at grade with a dedicated right-of-way carrying 42% of the downtown working population). Light rail transit use within the downtown core is free.

The bus system has over 160 routes and is operated by 800 vehicles.

As an alternative to the over 260 kilometres (162 mi) of dedicated bikeways on streets, the city has a large interconnected network of paved multi-use (bicycle, walking, rollerblading, etc) paths spanning over 635 kilometres (395 mi).

Data supplied by CREB®’s MLS ® System. CREB® is the owner of the copyright in its MLS® System. The Listing data is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by CREB®.

The trademarks MLS®, Multiple Listing Service® and the associated logos are owned by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and identify the quality of services provided by real estate professionals who are members of CREA. Used under license.

The trademarks REALTOR®, REALTORS®, and the REALTOR® logo are controlled by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and identify real estate professionals who are members of CREA. Used under license.